Sookie's Blog
by dawnwsullivan
Summary: Sookie uses her blog to record day to day events, hoping that one day her thoughts may be of help to others in human/vampire relationships.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N - When, as a writer, you take characters on a journey, you may never actually reach a final destination. After 'As Long As We Both Shall Live' ended, I thought I was through. But then - this little vignette of Sookie's thoughts came to me out of the blue. I wrote it down, and Sookie's Blog began. I have a tiny plot in mind, but I may never get there. For now, I am just offering my interpretation of the day to day life of Mr. and Mrs. Eric Northman. (There is more coming) This story is a sequel to ALAWBSL; please read that one if you haven't already. I'm happy with it.**

**Of course we all know that these characters were created by Charlaine Harris. She is the inspiration for our fantasies.**

**I appreciate all thoughts and reviews**

**Sookie's Blog**

**Thursday May 28**

I was glad that Tara had her baby first, because I learned a lot from her, and then I was able to adapt everything to our own lifestyle. No books had been written on the subject of human/vampire marriages, let alone those that produced a baby. I was actually thinking about writing one, since as of now, every state except Utah and Idaho had passed the Vampire Rights Amendment. That meant there would be a lot of vampire/human marriages and inevitably, children would be adopted or born into these marriages (via in vitro using donor sperm if the husband was the vamp, or via surrogate if the wife was the vamp). Like with the advent of the PC, lives were changing so fast, our culture could not keep pace. I kind of felt as if Eric and I were at the forefront of this new world, and I might have some insights to share. But even at that, our situation will always be unique. Most vampire/human marriages will produce 100% human children since vamps can't reproduce. In our case, my Fae great-grandfather Niall told us on our wedding day that he had blessed us with the gift of Magick, allowing Aleksander to be conceived with DNA from both of us. There may be other children born of similar Magick from other sources, but they'll be few and far between. Anyway, we're not sure what this means for Alek, i.e. – is he vamp or human? Dr. Ludwig thinks it may take a while before we know. No matter – what will be, will be. We'll prepare him for anything. I've been keeping a journal and I'm thinking of turning it into a short book if it looks like people would benefit from our experience.

Our approach has been to have our precious Aleksander adapt to our lifestyle. Anything else would have given him no time with his Daddy. Babies sleep a lot. We just adapted Alek's awake time to coincide as much as possible with Eric's. We make adjustments for the seasonal changes of daylight hours. On most days, Eric would get up around 7 PM, give or take an hour. So Alek starts his day at about 10 AM, has breakfast, spends time with Mommy, has lunch mid-afternoon and then naps. He has his afternoon play time (Baby Einstein time) and then Alek and Mommy snuggle in bed with Daddy until he wakes up. We all have dinner together and family time until 10 or so. Then Alek goes to bed and Mommy and Daddy go to Fangtasia or work on Kingdom business. This works well for us now but Alek is only fifteen months old. We've come to the realization that as Alek's needs change, we'll have to be flexible. But isn't that true of every parent? Because of our unique positions as King and Queen of Louisiana, we're fortunate to have a live-in nanny – we couldn't function properly without Shannon's help. And eventually, we've decided that Alek will be home-schooled. But he won't be isolated – there are getting to be enough kids around here, what with all the Kingdom staff we now have, that we'll be able to have our own little school right here on the premises. What's important to us is that Alek experience the daytime world as well as the nighttime world. So his schedule spans both.

He's an adorable little boy with straight blonde hair and of course the most gorgeous blue eyes. He's always smiling. Alek loves his Daddy. And Daddy is over the moon about Alek. Sometimes Eric will bundle Aleksander up and the two of them will go off on a flying adventure. Really, they'll just be flying around the property here but I'm sure to Alek it's like a world tour. I'll hear his giggles and coos the entire time. Lucky boy. Now that the weather is getting warmer we've started taking Alek into the pool for some nighttime swims – he loves that. Well, he loves anything he does as long as he's doing it with Daddy.

Me too.

**Monday June 1**

Auntie Pam came over for a visit before we all went over to Fangtasia for the Area meeting. When Alek heard her at the door he ran over to her (well, he toddled over) and she scooped him up.

"Hey Buddy!"

Auntie Pam smothered him with kisses.

Who would ever have guessed?

Alek laughed and laughed.

And then the games began. It's so silly, but every parent does it. Why do we put the little ones through their paces, prompting them to show everything they've learned and everything they can do as if they were trained dogs? Well, that's a rhetorical question – I know the answer. It's because they're so damn cute.

When Auntie Pam finally put Alek down, Eric walked over to his son.

"Aleksander, show Auntie Pam how you bow to your King."

Alek turned to face Eric, bent deeply at his little waist and made the most perfect and very quick little bow.

We three adults glowed with pride.

Daddy said, "Good job, my son." And then he made a fist of his right hand and touched it to his heart.

Alek returned the gesture, _Oh My God how cute is he? _and said, "Thank you, my father." Well, I'm sure that's what he said although it sounded more like "Tinks you my fair."

Eric scooped Alek up and took him for a run around the house……..

*********************************************

Since the final death of King Felipe de Castro, (an ill-conceived coup attempt by Victor Madden resulted in both of their deaths) and the reshuffling of the states of Felipe's domain, Eric was now, thankfully, King of Louisiana. The seat of his realm was of course, still New Orleans, which was as it should be. But with the installation of his trusted subject Bill Compton as Sheriff of the New Orleans area, Eric was able to manage his realm from our home in Shreveport.

Pam was now Sheriff of Area 5, and she also bought Eric out and ran Fangtasia now. She enlarged it by adding a second floor which housed a huge space for another bar, bands and dancing. The first floor still had the store and original bar area, but was now used more for parties. We ran a long wall down one side of the dance space and took the booths out – this space then contained a long hallway accessing Pam's new office, nicer rest rooms, and bar storage.

In the back, the entire space was now devoted to Eric's enlarged second office - his 'casual' office. (The kingdom rented the space from Pam.) We had a decorator come in and completely re-vamp (I know – I'm laughing too) the space. Now he had gorgeous oak office furniture, soft leather couches, and state of the art computer technology. He had art on the walls done by very talented vampire artists – a huge improvement over the beer and boobs posters he used to have in his man-cave office. Now it was befitting the married man and King that he was. He didn't use the office for official royal business. Even though Eric was King now, his style of management hadn't changed, and he was still surprisingly engaged in day to day activities of the vampires in his realm. He easily could have delegated this stuff to others, but he preferred to keep his hands in, and Fangtasia was still THE central location for vamps in this state. I thought this was brilliant of him. He didn't want to lose sight of what was going on around him. It was his world, and he could only manage it if he knew what was really going on.

What was going on tonight was the usual Monday meeting to deal with Area 3, 4 and 5 grievances. (Areas 1 & 2 were handled in N.O. by Bill) Fangtasia was closed. Pam had final say as Sheriff of A-5. She was fair, but very tough.

I could no longer sit idly by and tolerate barbaric behavior. I vowed that I would not see another vampire being flogged with a silver whip, or have his fangs forcibly removed, or be subjected to any number of other heinous punishments that they all seemed to accept. I tried to keep my mouth shut, but I am what I am. I cautiously chose my moment – after everyone was gone, sitting with Eric in his Fangtasia office, on his lap, after having softened him with gentle kisses…………

"Eric, all I'm trying to do is point out that the reason you have survived as a vampire for over a thousand years is because you understand the need to adapt. And also because over time you have certainly come to fully understand human nature."

"Sookie, your kind nature notwithstanding, I am trying to point out to YOU that some things will never change. The ways of the vampire have existed for thousands of years, and our rules guarantee that we will continue to exist. When one of us breaks the rules, the consequences are well known. To deviate from these consequences will undermine our society."

"OK, Lord knows I do understand that, having been part of your world for years now. But what I just said about adapting – your society is now part of our society. When you all came out of the coffins, that was a revolutionary change. I've been thinking about this a lot, but I can't really settle on any one way to approach this situation. If we could work this out between the two of us, maybe we can come up with some new protocols for vampire behavior, and new consequences for deviation from those behaviors. Eric, you are a strong leader…." I gave his face a gentle caress and locked eyes with him. At least he was still listening to me. "Surely you can see the need for adaptation in the face of the new reality. Now that your society is out in the open, more and more humans are becoming aware of how you do things. The violent nature of how vampires operate is frightening to humans, and will only serve to keep the two societies separated. I know you all think you can exist on the synthetic supplements, but let's be real – you all still prefer and actually can only thrive on the real thing. Since you all depend upon us for your eternal lives, isn't it apparent that it's preferable for our two societies to be fully integrated? One set of laws? One standard of conduct for behavior?"

"Lover, if I am to be totally honest here, and my darling you are the only one with whom I can be, I will admit that I too have had these thoughts. But I keep pushing them to the back of my mind because for the death of me, I can't come up with any alternatives to the way we have always done things. Like it or not, we ARE different. We have a lust for blood which dictates how we do things. We've had to be possessive of our humans for our own survival. Our strength and our other abilities will always hold us apart from humans."

"OK, given. I wouldn't want to change any of that. I think we should all acknowledge and celebrate the differences between us."

"Lover right now I would love to celebrate the differences between US."

His hands started sneaking up under my shirt, seeking the treasure of the twin peaks, and at the same time he started nibbling behind my ear and moving down to my neck. I was quickly losing my concentration.

"Eric hold on a sec – when is the next summit meeting?"

"Lover it's scheduled for next month in Orlando. What do you have in mind?"

"Well, what do you think about putting this on the agenda? We could initiate an open discussion on this subject and perhaps form a committee of some sort to look into maybe creating a new vampire code – one that is respectful of all individuals, and has an awareness of how vampires conduct themselves in this brave new world of ours."

"I have no idea what kind of response we'll get, but as you have pointed out frequently, the older vampires understand the need to adapt and they may see merit in having an exchange of ideas on the new situation we're all in. There's no better place to exchange ideas than the summit. I'll put it on the agenda. And Lover?"

"Yes Your Majesty?"

Eric wrapped his arms around me tightly and moved in closely. I felt his cool lips barely touching mine, as he placed a finger under my chin and raised my face up so that our eyes met. He paused a moment and I felt his love wash over me through our shared bond. He said, "Tonight I will say a prayer of thanks to Odin and Freyja for the blessing of you, my bonded, my lover, my wife, my life. You are the other half of my soul. You are my Valkyrie. I knew, from the moment I first saw you walk into this very place that you would be my mate, and would bring me to life. And I also knew that through you, and with you, I would do great things. I will thank the gods, because I believe you are my destiny, sent by them to me, and perhaps they intend for us together to affect change for the good of all."

By now I had gotten used to the softer side of Eric Northman, the side which only I ever got to see. But still, once in a while, he managed to surprise me. I mean, what could I say to this? Words failed. I just fell into his sapphire eyes and caressed his face with both of my hands. My desire for him surged through me – I pulled him to my lips for a searing kiss, pouring all of my love and passion into his mouth and stirring it with my tongue.

"Let's go home."

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

**Monday June 8****th**

Eric and I were in his office, as we were almost every night, each of us doing our own thing. What was unspoken between us was the total contentment we both felt in being together, even though we were independently occupied. I was reading a book about a woman in Scotland who was transported 200 years back in time. Despite the vast differences in their ways of life, she fell desperately in love with a man from that time. The love was so passionate, pure and perfect that it must have been fated. Hmmmmm – I wonder why I found this story so compelling? Anyway I was nestled down into Eric's soft leather couch and he was e-mailing instructions for various projects to various subjects, when Pam knocked and Eric said, "Enter, Pamela".

"Your Majesty, (Pam was always properly formal when discussing area business with King Northman) tonight's area meeting schedule is fairly light. There are only two minor issues that are being brought to me for adjudication. However an audience request for Your Majesty has also been submitted."

"That's a bit unusual Pamela. Why was this request not submitted through one of the royal appointment schedulers?"

"Well apparently Your Majesty, the person requesting the audience IS one of the appointment schedulers! Matthew Curtis would like a moment of your time."

We had two administrativeassistants for royal business – a vampire assistant and a human one. Matt was the human one. Matt was usually done with his shift before Eric rose, so I guess he felt the best place to catch him was here at Fangtasiaon a Monday during area business night. Matt was a very hard worker, very trustworthy (I knew this for a fact due to my telepathic due diligence) and very loyal to both Eric and me.

"All right. I've just finished here so you can tell Matthew I will see him for a few minutes."

"Yes King." An ultra short bow and Pam was out the door, returning in less than a minute with Matt.

Very astutely, Matt waited for Eric to acknowledge him before he spoke. He was human but he had a pretty good understanding of the way vampires conducted themselves.

I watched Eric as he looked up from his desk with a blank expression, revealing nothing. I got such a kick out of his 'King' persona. Not because he didn't naturally have a royal bearing – of course he did. But more because, when Eric was in his 'King' mode, it was such a departure from the affectionate, playful, and relaxed Eric that was my beloved husband. Seeing him switch back and forth like this sometimes gave me a little twinge of pain, because it reminded me of all the uncertainty I felt with the whole memory loss episode. I had convinced myself that the memory loss Eric I fell in love with was different from the Eric I knew at that time, and the two could never be reconciled. I was such a fool. Anyway, the whole incident and its aftermath was an important lesson for me. I used to think I knew it all. Now I was pushing thirty, and just beginning to realize how much I had to learn. What was it that Socrates said? I only know that I don't know anything. It's better not to be arrogant about life or you'll miss opportunities to grow. Knowing Eric, and going through what we've gone through, has taught me that there is always substance beneath the surface. It might be dangerous substance, it might be pleasurable. But one should never discount that it's there.

Eric motioned to Matt to take a seat in front of his desk.

"You wished to speak with me, Matt?"

"Yes King Northman – I really appreciate you taking the time. I know how busy you are."

Eric nodded.

"Sir, I'm sure you're aware that I'm enrolled at LSU/Shreveport working on my Bachelor's in Mass Communication. I can't thank you enough for your assistance with my tuition."

Eric had established a tuition reimbursement program for all of the kingdom employees. He was a firm believer in helping people reach their full potential. He knew that it would result in employee satisfaction, less turnover, loyalty, better job performances, etc. All good things. Win, win.

"My job as one of your administrative assistants has really been a good fit for my studies – particularly allowing me to develop my public relations and communications skills."

"Yes Matthew I have noticed that you are a diligent worker and very thoughtful in your approach to those projects to which you've been assigned. You are innately skilled in matters of written communication."

"Well thank-you Your Majesty – I appreciate that. And that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. I'm beginning to develop ideas for my senior thesis and I keep coming back to one subject. It's one I know well, and as such it will be a very good topic for me to develop. But before I begin, well I would not wish to undertake this without your knowledge and approval."

"All right Matt I understand – so what is the topic you're considering?"

"Well I'm sure it comes as no surprise to you that there are a lot of ignorant people out there who don't understand the vampire culture. I feel we're on the cusp of a new society, and aside from sensational media accounts of crimes, Fellowship activities or reports on the VRA amendment, we really haven't seen anything put out there in the media that might foster greater understanding between humans and vampires. I'vebeen contemplating this as my thesis topic. My plan is to conduct a number of interviews with vampires and humans like myself who work within the vampire world. My goal would be, as I said, to create understanding between cultures. Because of the opportunity I've had being in your employ for the last year, I understand the sensitivity that would be involved in an undertaking of this nature. If you think my idea has merit, I would haveno problem with submitting my drafts for review, by you or someone of your choosing. My ultimate goal would be having the thesis be expanded to book form some day."

My first thought when I heard this was – WOW. This guy had guts. To stand before a vampire King and make this kind of request took major – well I'll just say it, it took balls. Matt wasn't afraid. He definitely had a comfort level that was so refreshing. Still, I had no idea how Eric would take this. The feelings coming through the bond were neutral.

Eric stood up to his full six foot five inch height. "Matt, I DO think your idea has merit, but I also believe this kind of project is fraught with potential for danger. There are many of my kind who are still uncomfortable with interacting with humans for any purposes other than satisfying our appetites. We have spent thousands of years in the shadows. I think the best approach is for you to conduct your interviews under my auspices so that those of my kind will know that what you're doing has my approval. What do you think about accompanying us to the summit next month? We can set you up in a booth and those who wish to cooperate with you can sign up for an interview time."

Matt lit up like a candle. "That would be beyond my expectations, King. I've been putting together a questionnaire for the interviews – I could make those available too and that can be a starting point for discussion, or just stand alone for those that didn't want to speak with me in detail."

"All right then as you begin making the arrangements for the summit, just add yourself to the appropriate itineraries and you'll accompany us. Make sure to arrange for your booth in the convention hall, and I'll add a mention of it in my opening remarks. And Matthew…"

"Yes Sir?"

"I want my Queen to review your drafts as your work progresses – I trust her insights implicitly. So plan to coordinate Queen Sookie's review as part of your process."

"That would be fantastic. Thank you both so much."

"Matthew if this project develops into something that can promote better understanding between humans and vampires then there will be many who will be thanking YOU. See you at the summit."

"Thanks again. Good night, Your Majesties"

Matt gave a small nod and took off, practically flying with enthusiasm for the green light he was given.

***********************************************************

**Tuesday June 16**

Today was perfect.

It was a beautiful, warm, late spring day. Alek and I spent the afternoon running a couple of errands, but the best part was spending a little time at the library for Mom and Tot Story Time. He sat in my lap and tried to listen to the story, but there were a lot of distractions - like cute little toddler girls competing for his attention. Lord help me I think we are in for it with him.

As we walked out of the library (well, **I **walked and Aleksander rode in his stroller), I had to stop and just take a deep breath. The air was so clean and fresh. The sky was deep blue, as blue as the eyes of my precious Viking. Not a cloud to be seen. Just a perfect day. I took a moment to acknowledge the gift of this day. I wish I had the courage to speak it out loud, for I suspected Someone would hear me. But instead I just thought, _I will revel in this glorious day._

We got home an hour before sunset and I bounded up the stairs with Alek in my arms.

"OK now baby boy, remember Daddy is still sleeping so we'll snuggle with him and take a little nap until he wakes up. SHHHHHHH."

"OK Mama."

I guess the fresh air and our activities did wear us out because we both fell asleep, Alek between us on his back in a pose mimicking his father, myself on my side facing my boys, my arm protectively flung over Alek, my hand coming to rest on Eric's chest.

Bliss.

I opened my eyes upon feeling Eric's cool fingers brushing through my hair. Aleksander was still asleep between us.

"_Lover I missed you while I was at rest"_

We had quickly discovered the benefit of communicating telepathically after becoming parents. Not wanting to awaken Alek too soon was one of the reasons we enjoyed our silent exchanges.

"_I missed you too, My Liege." _

I was so completely joyful in this moment there was nowhere else I would rather have been, nothing else I would rather be doing. My life was here in this room. I took nothing for granted. I looked at Eric – really looked at him. Yes he was literally breathtaking. A Viking King, vampire royalty, chiseled features, thick flowing golden hair, the body of a god. But behind those eyes; therein lay his true beauty. Behind those sapphire eyes lay the soul of a true man. My Love. Overwhelmed, one tear overflowed and rolled down my cheek. There was no need to explain. He knew why. He felt my love. He traced the path of the tear with his cool finger, and then he leaned in and kissed it from my face, licking his lips and smiling with delight at it's salty, sanguine-like taste.

I will revel in this glorious day.

***********************************************************

**Sunday June 21**

**Father's Day**

Today the sun rose at 6:08 am and it set at 8:26 pm. We've pushed Aleksander's awake time ahead so that he's sleeping from about 11 PM until 11 AM. Since Auntie Pam owns Fangtasia now, Daddy doesn't have to be there every night. Because Daddy is the King of Louisiana now, he can work from home. So we've migrated to more or less a weekday/weekend kind of schedule. On the 'weekends', we let Alex stay up till about midnight to havemore daddy time. Really, he ends up getting more time with daddy then a lot of other little children whose daddies don't get home from work until 6 when bedtime is at 7:30 or 8.

Since today was Father's Day, we planned a picnic dinner out by the pool. All of our personal staff was off duty (except the 24 hour security guards which were always on the premises, although their profile was so low I never saw them). I fired up the grill and seared some chicken breasts with my special patented Secret Sookie Sauce, for Alek and me. Because it was a special day Daddy had Royalty Blend. (Although he didn't know yet that I planned a little bedtime snack for him consisting of a different blend – SookieType O). We sat by the pool and enjoyed eating and drinking our dinner together, and after a bit we all jumped in the pool for some fun. Eric played Sea Monster with Alek. They took turns being the monster. Precious. When we were totally waterlogged we wrapped ourselves up in one huge towel and snuggled on the double chaise for a bit. And then I whispered to Aleksander that it was time to give Daddy his present.

"Alek, go get the box with daddy's present."

He ran over to the basket I had used to bring out the plates and cups, lifted up the napkins and grabbed the small box wrapped in blue foil paper with a black metallic ribbon. He placed the box on Daddy's lap and placed a tiny wet kiss on Daddy's knee.

"Happy Father's Day, King Daddy" (Well, it sounded close to that anyway)

I think we actually caught Eric by surprise. He is so used to giving – he has no expectation that anyone will ever give anything to HIM. I felt a combination of surprise and love coming off of him in waves.

"What is this, my son? What have you gotten me?"

"For you Daddy"

Eric opened the box, and removed it's content.

"I had it made for you. It's a platinum reproduction of an ancient coin found in Sweden. It's a stag on the one side, and on the other is a Viking ship. Do you like it?"

Eric placed the leather cord that held the coin around his neck, and noticed something else in the box.

"Lover, this is quite a handsome piece – yes I like this very much and will not take this off. I am moved that you troubled yourself like this, to do this for me. And what else is here?" He picked up the second item- it was a smaller version of the same coin on a shorter leather cord. For Aleksander.

"I just thought, since it was Father's Day, that my two men should celebrate their father/son bond with the same token."

Eric looked at me, his love shining through. He placed the medallion around Alek's neck (Of course we will not let Alek sleep with this necklace on him – it will only be worn while he's awake and in our presence, so no mishaps occur) and leaned over to kiss me well. Several times.

"My beloved wife, I owe this day to you."

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

A/N - Thanks to JDCoke for inspiring me to sort through something that had been bothering me about the privacy issue related to the Blog. I've addressed that here.......

**Tuesday June 23**

I'm so glad I got up early today because at my usual breakfast meeting with Shannon, we had so many things to talk about we just went on and on until it was time to get Alek up. I don't know what I'd do without Shannon. She joined us specifically to help with Alek, but she's so smart and talented and involved with us all that she's become my right hand. Every day we have breakfast together and discuss Alek of course, but then we also go over my calendar to plan for events related to my royal responsibilities. Helping me with Alek doesn't really take up enough of her time, since she's more or less my back-up person where he's concerned. So I think she was looking for some extra challenges and she picked up on my need for an assistant. But she's much more than that now – she's my trusted friend. OK She's even more than THAT. She's like a sister to me. And I'm pretty sure she feels the same way about me. She doesn't have much family to speak of – just a dad and stepmother who live in Portland, Oregon. She's told me a few times we're her family now.

I happened to mention to her about what Matt would be doing – she knows him pretty well since they've both worked here for about a year. I told her Matt would be coming with us to the summit, and then we got to talking about his project. She agrees that there's a growing need for information about vampire/human relationships. Then I casually mentioned that I've been keeping a blog and she got all concerned.

"You aren't publishing that, are you?"

"Actually no, I'm not. The whole thing is really just my private journal – I think there might be a security issue if I put this thing up on the internet. I really don't want strangers knowing about our comings and goings. I'm writing it more or less to chronicle the way things are for us at this moment in time, because I just feel as if we're breaking ground here as a family, and I might want to turn this into something later that can be useful. I'm going to be helping Matt out with his thesis – another set of eyes reviewing his questionnaires and interviews. I know he ultimately wants to write a book, and I was thinking, maybe, I could be a chapter in it!"

"A chapter? With what you've experienced you could be an entire book, easily!"

"Well first things first – I'm just keeping a little journal – we'll see where it leads."

Then talk moved on to the summit plans. Shannon and I were working on the agenda – continually fine tuning it before we had to send it to the printer. She had taken on the task of creating the several hundred packets we'd need to mail out to everyone – our deadline for that is next week. She's a whiz at desktop publishing – everything is looking really good.

There was a lull in the conversation when we were both drinking our coffee at the same time. I leaned back in my chair and looked at my friend. Shannon had dark hair and eyes, and a beautiful face. She was a little on the short side and thin, with a graceful, willowy build that made her look great in anything she pulled out of her closet. She had a unique style – a blend of traditional and contemporary that suited her perfectly. Anything she did, she did well. She has so many talents and interests I jokingly refer to her as Renaissance Woman. I really admired her. Right now, she was my administrative assistant, Alek's nanny, and she was also working on her master's degree in education. When she mentioned a while back that she had thought about going back to school to become a teacher, my mind started racing. We (Shannon, Eric, Alek and me) were all sitting around the kitchen table finishing up with dinner. (Aleksander was in his little hook-on table chair.)

"Shannon why do you want to do that? Your bachelor's is in video production. Teaching seems like it's so unrelated."

"Yeah, well I guess it is, but when I decided to major in video production, it was really more or less just because making videos was something I had always done as a kid and it was all I could think of that I wanted to do for a living. And then I ended up here – it's funny how life leads you down paths you never would have thought about choosing. I just went on a road trip with some college friends and fell in love with the south. Spent a little extra time in Louisiana and thought I wanted to stay. Got the job here and the rest is history. Since I've been here, I've had the chance to be a part of Alek's life, and all the other kids that are in and out of here with their moms and dads who work for the kingdom. This is such a family friendly place. I didn't realize how much I loved kids till I came here. Anyway, I got to thinking about what you said about home schooling Alek, and I looked into the Master's of Ed program at LSUS."

Eric and I looked at each other when she started talking and we could barely hear Shannon because of our own telepathic conversation.

"_Oh my God Eric are you thinking what I'm thinking?"_

"_Well of course I am Sookie – you know it because you can hear me thinking about what you're thinking about."_

"_This could get confusing, Viking."_ We both laughed telepathically, exchanged smiles outwardly.

"_All right Lover – yes – let's encourage Shannon to do this. It seems that if it's what she wants, it could be beneficial to all of us. Alek is very fond of her and I would be quite pleased to know he is in her care for his early education."_

_"Me too. Oh, and Your Majesty?"_

_"Yes my beloved?"_

_"Later on maybe you and I can play college professor/eager young graduate student?"_

"_I expect your thesis on my desk by midnight."_

_"Who said YOU were the professor?"_

Telepathic laughing again.

Eric put down his glass of True Blood O and said, "Shannon I think this is an excellent plan. If this is something you really want to do I think I can help make it easier for you. I've been talking to our HR consultants about setting up a tuition reimbursement plan for kingdom employees. You could be the first one to benefit from this."

Shannon actually pumped the air with her fist. "YES!" I DID decide that I desperately wanted to do this, just wasn't sure I could make it work. If we can do this, I – I (_she was getting a little choked up_) I would be so grateful. I can't thank you enough. Group hug."

She came around to our end of the table and pulled us in to each other and her and wrapped us in a huge bear hug. "THIS IS A PLAN!!!!!"

Alek didn't quite understand what was going on but he knew it was exciting so he started clapping and saying, "Yay!"

So Shannon started her program – some morning classes, some evening classes. It all worked. By the time Alek was ready for kindergarten she would have her master's and we would set up a school here.

Between her classes, homework, helping me with Alek and my Queen business, I don't know how she had time for Bill...........

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**Saturday Morning, June 27**

On Fridays, Bill comes back to Shreveport after spending the week in New Orleans doing his Sheriff thing. As usual, Shannon's excitement grew hour by hour. By three in the afternoon she was singing out loud along with her iPod. I tried to tell her no one else could hear the music that was loudly coming through her ear buds to her alone, but it didn't matter. She needed to expend her nervous energy somehow, and singing was it.

I actually thought it was kind of cute; the novelty of her relationship with Bill hadn't worn off yet. I was beginning to think this might be "it" for both of them.

So Bill walked in at about ten last night. He flew himself in the kingdom corporate jet that we inherited from Felipe. Bill immersed himself in an intensive program to get a pilot's license. It took almost a year and over $50,000, but he did it. Now he's licensed to fly multi-engine planes, and he's instrument rated also. Eric justified the expense because he now has someone he can trust at the helm of the plane. Bill's not the only pilot we use, of course, but whenever we all travel together, Bill's it.

So he walked in and Shannon ran to him and jumped in his arms, throwing her legs around his waist.

"Bill!"

"Sweetheart I've missed you."

He kissed her passionately until we all started clearing our throats. Too cute. They seem like such a mismatch – Shannon is so energetic and enthusiastic about everything and Bill is so cool and deliberate. Butter wouldn't melt in his cold vampire mouth. But Shannon's natural exuberance has been just the thing Bill needed to help him loosen up. The day he met Shannon – he had just come over to hang out with us. We spent a few months keeping a really low profile after I had Aleksander. We didn't go out much so our friends just came to hang out with us. So he walked around to the back where we were all sitting by the pool. Shannon had just recently joined us and was in the shallow end with Alek – he was sitting in a little inflatable baby swim donut and she was pulling him around and splashing him, getting to know him and getting him to trust her. When they finally got out she wrapped him up in a soft towel and put him in my lap so she could dry herself off, and I noticed Bill just staring at her with the strangest expression on his face. I guess there's nothing as enticing as rivulets of water cascading down the arms, legs, stomach and cleavage of a beautiful nearly naked woman. He was smitten! She was obviously drawn to him too, with his smoldering dark eyes and classic good looks.

They've evolved into a couple passionately in love and devoted to one another. Bill stays here with Shannon when he's in Shreveport. Because I care about both of them, I was anxious about the whole thing – if it didn't work out I would have two friends hurting. After a year, it looks like it's going to work out, and I couldn't be happier……

So Bill walked in last night and right away (well, after numerous kisses with Shannon) he whispered something to Eric and the two of them went off to talk in Eric's office. I didn't like what I was feeling about the whole thing. After about an hour I knocked on the office door and walked in with Alek in my arms to see if they were done, and would Eric wish to accompany me in the bedtime for Aleksander ritual. Of course he did.

"Bill we will discuss this further tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your evening."

Bill gave a short bow to his king and friend and took off for Shannon's suite on the lower level.

*************************************************

After we tucked Alek in, after we sang to him and smothered him with goodnight kisses and after we patted him on his little back as he snuggled under his crib quilt, Eric and I quietly left his room, holding hands and basking in the joy that is unlike any other joy. For me, the joy is a physical thing – I can feel my heart literally welling up, filling with a strange pressure similar to when I get a lump in my throat. I know it's joy I'm feeling, but at the same time there's a tiny element of heartbreak in it. I've tried to analyze it, because that's what I do, and the only thing I can come up with is that it's just bittersweet to be a parent. I know we're only going to have him for a short time. I know I will always be fearful that something will hurt him. I know that the world will do it's best to break him. Then I get mad at myself for thinking about those things – it's just crazy to think like that. I've talked about it with Eric.

"Eric sometimes I get so overwhelmed with love for Aleksander that I have a physical reaction in the center of my chest."

"I feel it too. Even in my dead heart, I feel it."

Hearing him say that gave me the feeling again, only this time it was my love for HIM.

***************************************************

We got settled in to our room for our private Friday night party, getting all cozy in our huge bed, propped up with pillows, lights dimmed. Eric pushed the button to raise the TV from the foot of the bed, and pushed another button to select the DVR shows we had chosen for the evening. We had three episodes of Lost to catch up on. I had no idea where they were going with this show but I was happy being along for the ride. Eric and I discussed it endlessly, coming up with different theories and observations. I told him that I think Jack Shepherd is a Christ figure – look at his name – Shepherd. And also, the eye thing. You know how the show frequently starts with a close shot of someone's eye? Like God – the all-seeing eye. Well, someone's watching what's going on on that island, that's for sure. And Eric is all about trying to decide who the bad guy is. He thinks we're being led to believe that Locke is good and Ben is bad, but Eric thinks it may just turn out that Ben is the good guy after all. Then I chimed in with my trivia knowledge –

"Eric, did you know that the woman who played Ben's mother – you know she died giving birth to him – that was the real-life wife of the actor! Hey – and she's also the red-haired actress who plays one of the waitresses on that HBO show about vampires!!!"

"Lover you are a treasure trove of useless knowledge, but I find that one of your most adorable qualities."

"Gee, thanks. Quiet – here comes Sawyer. He's so HOT."

"Don't make me turn this off."

"Viking do NOT touch that off button."

He gave me an evil grin. God I love him.

I'm always so amused when I watch a guy holding a TV remote. It's like a second penis for them – geeze they can't keep their hands off it. They HAVE to control the TV. God forbid if I ever ask for it to hop around during a commercial – Eric gets shaky; goes through remote withdrawal until I give it back to him. Men.

I'll write more in a day or so because I want to record everything Bill and Eric discussed last night – Eric told me everything after we finished the Lost shows, and before he made me forget about Sawyer. The side benefit of this journal is that it helps me organize my thoughts; by writing down events in our life I can sometimes make sense out of things that frustrate me. Until then……..

**TBC**

**A/N** – What we're trying to do here on is hone our skills as writers, so I'd like to request your feedback on this chapter. I had Bill "walking in" three times. I did that on purpose, but I want to know if you all picked up on it, if it distracted you, or if you thought I was being sloppy. The reason I did that is stylistic. I tend to be repetitive at times, because I think it's kind of a poetic affect, or it drives a theme home, or in this case, because it makes the characters feel more real if they're speaking (or writing) in a conversational style. Sometimes we start a sentence, and then we'll go off on a tangent until we snap back to what we started saying in the first place. While I'm at it, I guess I would also like to ask how you feel about all of my fragments. Spell-check is always kind enough to point out to me that I write a lot of fragments. I never change it. I like them.


	5. Chapter 5

**Monday June 29**

**8:30 PM**

Shannon took Aleksander to the mall. She wanted to do a little pre-summit shopping, and Alek actually seems to enjoy sitting in his stroller and being wheeled around all the stores. I'm sure as he gets older that will change. I never knew a man who liked shopping. They just want to get in and out as fast as they can.

OK so where do I begin? I have a little free time right now to write some things down so I can make sense of it all. I remember as a kid reading The Diary of Anne Frank. Something she wrote has stuck with me – she said, "Paper is patient". And even though I am not writing this on paper, there is still something soothing about recording your thoughts in a journal. It's a friend who just listens, never talks back, and always agrees with you.

Hold on, Blog, my phone is chirping.........

Wow - Shannon just texted me that she and Alek had dinner at the mall food court and she would tuck him in when they got home – so that Eric and I may have some mommy and daddy time to ourselves. Bless her heart.

Anyway, as I mentioned in my entry of June 27th, after Bill came home Friday night he spirited Eric away for a lengthy discussion, which of course Eric shared with me. I know I'm not talking here, I'm writing, but I just had to take a deep breath. This whole thing is just so weird – it has me so flustered. Apparently a producer for the Anderson Cooper 360 show on CNN stopped by the Louisiana Kingdom headquarters in New Orleans. Anderson Cooper has spent a lot of time in New Orleans covering Katrina and her aftermath. He's come to know the city pretty well, and as such he understands that one of the less mainstream facets of the personality of New Orleans is the vampire culture. In light of the invention of synthetic blood and the revelation that went with it, he feels that this is an underreported, misunderstood segment of life in the United States and he wants to do a multi-part story, touching on various aspects of vampire life, and particularly how the interaction between vampires and humans may or may not have changed since the advent of synthetic blood.

What flusters me, what scares me, is that I think he's right – heck that's what I said about why I started this blog in the first place. BUT – having someone with the high profile of Anderson Cooper delving into this subject can set a tone that may or may not be in the best interests of the vampires that I know and love. What's running through my mind is, be careful what you wish for – you just might get it. I do think we need some illumination on the subject, I'm just praying it'll be for the good. At least it's Anderson Cooper – he's so respected and balanced and professional. It could have been someone like that nut-case Anne Coulter. My blood runs cold……

So AC 360's producer knocked on the door down there and as Sheriff of Area 1, Bill was the highest ranking vampire in residence. He did speak with her to find out what was on their minds and what they were requesting of us. She mentioned that she was aware of the summit coming up and wondered if they could get some press ID's to attend. Basically he just took her card with a promise to have the King of Louisiana, one Eric Northman, review the request and respond.

Uh Oh – speak of the devil – he's up. He's coming into my office…….

_Dear Sookie's Blog:_

_This entry is being made by Eric Northman, lover, bonded and husband of Sookie Northman. It is my wish that Mrs. Northman temporarily abandon her current entry as it has come to my attention that a very unusual opportunity presents itself. Our son is otherwise engaged, and I wish to be. _

_My wife will return to you as soon as it is convenient._

_HMEtN, Rex Louisiana_

Eric stepped away from my keyboard and held out his hand to me, his eyes sparkling.

"Just what is it you want from me, Viking?"

"Oh my love, I think you know……"

********************************************************

He carried me from my office, into our bedroom and our eyes never left each other. I was awash in love – his for me, mine right back. I saw the love within the depth of his eyes, reflecting with fierce intensity. The power of it made me weak. I watched him as he came to me. He was silhouetted like the god that he is, in the frame of our window, his hair shining in the moonglow. We whispered to each other of our love, the drumbeat of my heart, the pulse of my veins, keeping time to our hushed words

In all of the world, no greater love. How many words are there in the English language to express love? How many in Swedish?

Not enough.

*********************************************************

**Tuesday, June 30**

Where was I before I was so pleasantly interrupted? Oh yes - finishing my account of what Bill told Eric. The two of them spent an hour discussing the ramifications of this whole proposal by CNN. Neither of them were naïve enough to think that if a powerhouse like CNN wanted to do a story on vampires in America, that anything would stop them. Wasn't it better to have a relationship and thus some modicum of control? Plus, the timing of this whole thing fit right in more or less with the theme of this summit. Eric was going to stipulate that the AC 360 producers use Kingdom representative Matt Curtis as a liaison. He thought it would be a good fit – Matt's thesis went hand in hand with what CNN was proposing to do - he was going to have a killer paper. Eric would grant press credentials to AC 360 – for the convention floor, but not to any of the summit business sessions.

Oh, and one other thing Bill discussed with Eric – he asked his King for permission to marry………

**Friday July 3**

Of course I was sworn to secrecy, since Bill had not yet proposed to Shannon. All week I did my best to stay away from her, because I knew I was at risk of giving it away. I would never say anything, but she would know something was up if she caught me looking at her like the cat that swallowed the canary. As it was, she thought I was upset with her for some reason – I caught a few of her thoughts when I wasn't concentrating and I felt pretty bad about that. But better that, than ruin the occasion for her.

Bill wanted to do everything at the summit. Since Eric was acquainted with the governor of Florida, who would be making the opening remarks, he was able to arrange to have the marriage license brought to the Dolphin Hotel and witnessed by the Governor himself. Then the ceremony would be conducted immediately afterward. Bill had asked me to find a dress for Shannon since I knew her tastes. I didn't for one minute consider that Shannon would, A. Say no to Bill's proposal or B. Object to having the ceremony immediately. I knew she had no family to speak of, all of her friends were those that would already be in attendance, and she was a very spontaneous person who would be thrilled at the prospect of being proposed to and married immediately thereafter. So we all kept our little secret and went about the tasks to which we'd been assigned, and were going out of our freaking minds with anticipation. Ten days to go………

TBC

A/N - I just want you all to know that my previous draft had an extra sentence in it at the end of the first paragraph. I wrote, _'That's what she said.'_ - but if you aren't a fan of 'The Office', you wouldn't understand. Plus I didn't think it was something Sookie would say. But** I** would. I would say it, and then I would laugh like a crazy woman. I had to take it out.


End file.
